


Seperated (SU AU)

by sightlessProphet



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-19 05:23:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22005844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sightlessProphet/pseuds/sightlessProphet
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	Seperated (SU AU)

"They really are coming here for meee," Peridot cried as she hid behind Steven, peering nervously over his shoulder the ship that had been smashed into the ground by Lapis. 

Steven glanced the spacecraft with apprehension before he quipped with short titter, "I guess Yellow Diamond *really* doesn't like being insulted," and then turn his attention to Peridot. "It's okay now though! Lapis saved us, so there's nothing to worry about!"

"Hmm... I don't know, Steven," Lapis responded doubtfully. She dropped the water she had been manipulating back into the sealed hole, but her eyes never left the ship. "A slight to the Diamonds hardly ever goes unpunished."

"Lazuli's right." Peridot gripped Steven's shirt tighter, her eyes locked on the red space vessel. "I called Yellow Diamond a clod *right to her face* and defied her direct orders to leave the Cluster alone. I wouldn't doubt she was on her way *right now* to shatter me personally!"

Steven chuckled at Peridot's exaggeration as he pried her fingers off his shirt, despite the uneasiness underneath his laughter. "Oh, I don't think so. Don't the Diamonds have more important things to do than come to Earth for something so small?"

"Small?!" Peridot asked heatedly. "What I did wasn't small, Steven! I showed an act of defiance to someone who controls fleets that she can send to wipe my perfect face off the star system. And," Peridot pointed at the grounded ship, smacking Steven's cheek as her hand moved over his shoulder, "Yellow Diamond is obviously sending them for someone!"

Steven rubbed his cheek sullenly and caught Lapis' gaze, and they shared a troubled look. "Sorry, Peridot," he mumbled.

Peridot heaved out a pent up sigh as she wringed her hands together, stepping out from behind Steven and cautiously approached the ship. After a long moment she firmly stated, "This is a tracker ship."

"A tracker ship?"

"Yes, Steven," she quietly hissed. "A tracker ship to track gems. Why else would it be here if not to search for me, the defiant and traitorous Peridot?!"

Steven tilted his head, a quizzical expression on his face. "This looks like... Oh, what was it called? It wasn't pink eye, it wasn't contagious. Hmmm... Oh!" Steven snapped his fingers at his remembrance, startling Peridot into retreating away from the space ship and back behind him and Lapis. "This looks like a Red Eye!"

Peridot glared at Steven before composing herself to correct him. "Wrong. This is a Roaming Eye." 

"Roaming Eye? They look almost identical, and they're both red. Aren't they the same?"

"Uh, no," Peridot scoffed. "A Red Eye just scouts out for gem presence on planets and can do so automatically, like the one you and the others destroyed. This Roaming Eye hunts and tracks down gems, and they're usually manually operated by..."

A sudden whooshing noise that was immediately followed by mechanical sounds interrupted Peridot into silence. The hatch of the space ship was beginning to open!

Steven felt a hand sharply tug his shirt collar, yanking him back, away from the emerging gems, and into the barn. He peeked around the side of the door, watching the figures exit the ship one by one. "Rubies!" he said in a hushed tone. "There's a lot of Rubies out there."

"Ooh," Peridot whimpered, "this isn't good. I told you that Yellow Diamond had it out for me! Now I'm going to shattered!" Peridot was pressed against the wall, cowering beside Steven, with her fingers tangled in her hair as her hands covered her eyes. 

Lapis was on the opposite side of the barn's entrance, peering at the Rubies that were beginning to expand across the field. "I could take them out right now," she muttered. 

Steven shot a brief glance at Lapis before catching sight of the water in the pool being influenced. "W-Wait, hold on, Lapis!" Steven turned to Peridot to reassure her. "We're not going to let them shatter you, but I don't think violence is necessary. I'm sure I could just go out there and explain--"

"Explain?!" Peridot screeched before realizing the volume of her voice and covering her mouth. "Steven, do you even have an idea of how to 'explain' away insubordination?! I know I caused this problem, but you could make the situation exponentially worse! Just... Don't go out there!" 

"She's right," Lapis agreed, breaking her watch from the wandering Rubies to meet Steven's gaze. "If we stay in here and be quiet, they should leave. Or, I could do it my way and settle this immediately."

Peridot nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, let Lapis handle this! That's a much better option than talking with them."

"We don't have to handle this with violence," Steven said firmly as he stood up from his spot on the floor. He wiped his pants off and began to leave the barn. "It'll be fine! I'll just tell them you already left to, uh, Neptune or something, and then they'll leave Earth. You'll be safe, Peridot. I got this!"

Before either Peridot or Lapis could stop him, Steven exited the barn, comfortable and confident in his choice, and approached the four Rubies that were prowling around the yard. He could hear the two gems softly yelling for him to return, but he continued onward. 

"Where is that the gem tracker located?"

"Keep looking! She couldn't have gone far."

"Er, who are we looking for again?"

"How can you forget such a vital part of our mission? We're here for--"

"Hey there!" Steven greeted as he waved. "Who're you, uh, watcha looking for?"

The Rubies quickly gathered around him. They looked just like the Ruby he knew aside from their gem placements and personalities. Steven mentally named them to help remember each one easier.

"Who are you?" one of the Rubies questioned with hostility.

"Who, me? I'm Steven Universe," he answered cheerfully. "Who are you?"

The quadruple of Rubies stared at Steven for a long moment before one finally introduced themselves as well. "Um, I'm Ruby."

"I'm Ruby too," another answered with a shy smile. 

"I'm Ruby as well," another grunted.

The fourth Ruby, Eyeball, remained quiet, her stance aggressive she she simply glowered at at Steven. "We didn't come her to mingle with humans. We're here on a important mission!"

"Yeah, we're looking for a traitor," Navy, a Ruby with her gem on her stomach, breezily mentioned, like they were out shopping at a mall instead of a corn field.

Eyeball turned to Navy with a nasty look, but Navy just looked away.

""O-Oh, a traitor, huh?" Steven nervously. "I don't think there's a traitor around here. Just humans!"

Eyeball only scowled in reaction to Steven's statement, but she didn't say anything. The silence dragged on for a while before unease began to creep in and settle down when a fifth Ruby popped her head out of the Roaming Eye.

"Hey, what are you numbskulls doing? Don't just stand around! The tracker said the gem was--" The newest Ruby trailed off when she notices Steven surrounded by the other Rubies. "Oh, did you find her?!"

"Me?!" Steven squeaked, pointing to himself. "No, no, I'm just a normal human. No traitor gems around here, ha ha!"

"It calls itself 'Steven,' Ruby," Eyeball stated to the other Ruby. There was an undecipherable tone that she had in her voice that Steven couldn't understand, but it didn't make him feel comfortable anymore. A small bud of wariness formed in his stomach.

"Steven?" the fifth Ruby, nicknamed Doc now,   
repeated.

"Y-Yep, that's my name!" Steven replied nervously. "Don't wear it out." 

Steven chanced a look over at the barn and saw Lapis and Peridot, scared and worried expressions, looming behind the door, watching him with trepidation. He gave them a quick thumbs up to let them know he was okay.

He had to admit, though, this was going on longer than he had thought. He had imagined he would have strolled over, questioned what the Rubies were doing on Earth, tell them where to go, and not worry about them again... at least for a while.

A part of Steven wondered where the Gems were. They definitely should have seen the ship from the temple. It was odd they hadn't shown up yet.

"Wow, I thought we would've had to search more of this area to find the rebel leader, but it's super convenient you're right where we landed, not even hidden!" Doc said, pulling Steven from his thoughts.

His small smile fell when he registered her words. "Rebel leader?"

"Don't play dumb, 'Steven Universe,'" Eyeball retorted, "or should I saw Rose Quartz?!"

"What?!" Steven felt the bud flourish into a panic as realization washed over him. "I'm not Rose Quartz! My name is Steven!"

"Yeah, we know your disguises, 'Steven,'" Doc replied. "We were briefed all about your new Earthly form before coming to this planet. We were also told to locate and contain you for extraction."

"Wh--"

"Rubies, combine!"

All five Rubies immediately joined together and fused into a bigger version before Steven could get another word out. As a large hand moved to grab him, he rolled underneath it and made a dash back to the barn. 

A sudden foot blocked his path as he saw Lapis rushing towards him, Peridot trailing behind her, and stumbled him off balance. He saw the hand reach for him again and reflexively brought out his bubble, and he shut his eyes in fear as he felt the grip tighten around his only protection. 

Where are the gems? Why aren't they here?

As he struggled to keep the bubble from bursting, Steven felt the Ruby fusion release it. He dropped to the ground, bouncing a couple of times before the bubble popped. Shaking from the adrenaline, Steven looked up hesitantly at the fusion. His eyes widened in shock, and he recoiled from the unsettling sight. 

Icicles were stabbed through the giant Ruby, several almost hitting the gems of Doc and Navy. When he looked higher, Steven gasped audibly from the frightening fact that Eyeball's gem had been almost penetrated by an icicle that only narrowly missed. Her gem was visibly cracked though.

The Ruby fusion tried to turn around to see the cause of the attack, but they couldn't manage their form any longer and poofed into clouds, revealing Lapis in an aggressive stance after it cleared. 

"Steven!" Lapis cried out in relief and hurried to him, Peridot rushing after her. 

Lapis collapsed onto Steven and hugged him tightly while Peridot hugged his arm. He stared at the five gems now trapped in a water bubble that Lapis had levitating in the air, a few feet away, before returning the hugs that were depriving him of oxygen.

After the relief high calmed down, Steven approached the bubble prison and examined Eyeball's damaged gem. "Lapis... You cracked one of the Rubies."

"So? They were trying to attack you," Lapis responded, standing beside Steven now and glaring at the bubble.

"Let me heal her, please," Steven pleaded. "I know I messed up by not listening, so it's my fault that she got hurt!"

"We can't let them out; they'll reform. They could try to attack us again!"

"Lapis, please!" Steven begged. "I--"

Peridot placed a hand on Steven's arm, trying to placate him. "Right now the only thing that matters is understanding what they meant by coming here to 'extract' you. If they weren't here to shatter me for my many transgressions, then they had a far more important reason to be here."

Steven wanted to argue more, but he knew the stubbornness of Lapis and Peridot wouldn't budge to his begging after the situation that had just occurred.

"Fine," he sighed out, "but we should go to the temple to tell the gems about--"

"Ssh!" Lapis shushed abruptly. "Do you hear that?"

The moment of quiet was still.

"Hear what?" Peridot questioned.

Lapis placed a finger over her lips as she concentrated on the noise that only she heard... until Steven heard something far off in the distance, above him, in the sky.

The trio turned their heads to the clouds when the noise became louder, almost like a plane flying overhead had been attached to an amplifier. A moment later, two giant hand ships started materializing from the sky, overcasting the temple and Beach City.

"Oh, no, did Homeworld send more gems?!" Steven asked before glancing at Lapis and Peridot. Their faces were a mix of emotions, from sheer horror to total astonishment before settling on devastating realizations.

Steven heard the bubble prison drop behind them and turned to see the grass soaked with water and the gems of the five Rubies laying on the ground, glistening in the sunlight.

"Guys?"

"They didn't send more gems," Peridot mumbled, fear creeping into her voice. "It's them!"

"Them? Who's them?"

Peridot clutched onto Steven's arm in response to his questions, watching the hand shaped ships descend closer to the beach, but she didn't offer an answer. Steven turned to Lapis, but she was no longer by his side like she had been previously. She was a few steps behind him, staring intent at ships.

"Lapis, who is 'them'?!"

Lapis, at first, seemed like she hadn't heard him, but eventually looked down at the boy who had offered her a new life and said quietly, "The Diamonds."


End file.
